Jack, one of our members, is a cookery teacher. During the pandemic, Jack has been helping Stella with shopping and every Friday is ‘Pie Friday’ when she brings a homemade pie and a sweet on the side … these delicious cakes are one of these. She says “It’s a simple recipe with a very simple method that is a favourite of mine and my Year 10 students.”
| Ingredients for the whirls | Equipment |
| 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 250g very softened (not melted) butter 250g plain flour 50g icing sugar 50g cornflour | Sieve Mixing bowl Spatula Electric hand mixer 2x baking trays Blunt knife Piping bag with 1/4 – 1/2 inch star nozzle Cooling wire |
| Ingredients for the filling | |
| 150g softened butter 300g icing sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbs seedless raspberry jam 1/2 tsp icing sugar for dusting |
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180c G4, collect equipment and weigh ingredients.
2. Whirls – sift the dry ingredients over the vanilla and very softened butter, first combine with a spatula (stops it flying everywhere). Whisk with the electric mixer 2-3 minutes until ingredients are throughly combined and the mixture is light.
3. Secure nozzle in piping bag (a lot of people forget to put it in first), load in mixture – don’t over load as a full piping bag is harder to pipe, better to reload. Pipe mixture onto baking trays as approx 3 inch shells, approx 1 inch apart (they shouldn’t spread out in the oven), oven bake 10-12 minutes until light golden. Clear down, wash up.
4. Butter cream – sift icing sugar over softened butter and vanilla, combine first with spatula, then whisk with electric mixer 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Remove whirls from oven, transfer from baking tray to a cooling wire (keeps them crisp underneath), allow to cool.
6. Load clean, dry piping bag with butter cream, pipe the underside of half the whirls with a swirl of butter cream. Using a blunt knife spread the underside of the other half with jam, sandwich a jam and a butter cream together, place on serving plate / in keeping-tin and sift over the remaining 1/2 tsp icing sugar.
7. Make a cuppa and test the product.
Half a chance they keep filled for up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge. Sealed and unfilled they will keep for a couple of weeks in a cool cupboard, just fill them as needed.
An email received after this was published …
I can thoroughly recommend the recipe for Viennese whirls – I wouldn’t dare make them – I’d eat too many. I’m sure they’re the melt in the mouth little cakes I received as a surprise treat when Jack did my weekly shop for me – Jack one of Bognor Regis W.I.’s unsung heroes – Bless you all, Stella x
Bognor Regis Women's Institute 